In all the conversations about the rest of the starters and their future, are the Bucks interested in Lopez long term.
A season ago, he was a bench player for the Lakers and was an expiring $22M contract. The Bucks snatched him up for under $4M, and not much was made of it. He’s been a revelation this year- and while a lot of attention is being given to his offense, but being one of the league leaders in blocks means he’s helping to defend the paint in a way no one could have expected. This Ringer article (https://www.theringer.com/nba/...-giannis-budenholzer) details how he may not be a strong playoff player when the matchups are King. But we certainly have seen enough to think they’ll be able to duplicate their defensive success in the playoffs.
So what do you do? His brother makes $14M/season, and the Bucks might need to go that high if they want to run this roster back. That’s not happening. They may have more interest in Mirotic, who finishes his $12.5M deal this season and whose shooting is on a different level than Lopez. But as a C Lopez has proven he can still play, and has plenty of inside and outside game for the Bucks to think long and hard. And considering Lopez has never been out of the first round in his career, maybe he’ll want to stay on a team friendly deal.